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It’s time for development and prototyping again so we headed into the shop to start working on some new patterns. And new pattern drafting can only mean one thing – be on the lookout for new product updates as we move into the spring!

It’s winter time in Colorado so we’re having a bunch of fun enjoying the winter wonderland in the mountains. I’ve been trying to get the Vanagon farther and farther from home in preparation for Moab trips this spring, and a trip to Aspen for X Games and the Chainsmokers seemed like a great opportunity. But we couldn’t do just that..

Backcountry Hut

Friday night my friend was working late, so I met her around 10pm in Golden to go hike into a backcountry hut my friend Alex had reserved. We dropped her car in Empire and took our chances getting the Vanagon over its first true mountain pass on the way to Winter Park. I was a little worried about it, but the van did great until it stalled out in the trailhead parking lot. That’s as far as we wanted to go anyway so we left it there, got dressed, and started skinning/snowshoeing.

We got into the hut around 2:30 – about when we expected – and collapsed into bed. I was excited to wake up without an alarm, but less than 5 hours later we were awoken by a different high-pitched beeping as people checked avalanche beacons in the kitchen. I was unstoked.

After breakfast I went out with Alex and a friend for their second backcountry lap of the morning. I was breaking in new BC boots that hurt so bad I thought I was going to puke for a minute, but the snow was amazing! We cruised through some trees with rock drops in the middle of the run, and then hiked back to pack up the hut.

Aspen

We skied out of the hut around noon, with Alex and I hopping in the Vanagon and heading to Aspen. After a stop in Frisco for food, and battling a fuel pump on the fritz, we made it to Carbondale to meet up with Holly and Brian. We got of tour of their new house from Holly, but she said Brian was driving a 4×4 Sprinter van limo all night so we headed up valley to Aspen to meet up with him.

We parked the whip and met up with Brian for a bit before catching a ride to X Games at Buttermilk. The Buttermilk scene was about as crazy as I expected from X Games and we checked out Skier Big Air before heading over to the Chainsmokers concert sans ticket. I’m not going to go into how we got in because it involves questionable legality, but the point is we watched an awesome show until crowd antics shut it down. So we retreated to THE pizza spot in Aspen to refuel before retiring to the Vanagon for the night.

#VanLyfe

There’s something so empowering about sleeping in a van in front of 5-15 million dollar homes that’s difficult to capture in words. I would not be opposed to sleeping in a 15 million dollar house, don’t get me wrong, but the idea that we drove our house to Aspen and had the same access to downtown, the same access to X Games and the Chainsmokers, maybe even better access because of the relationships we’ve cultivated through a tenure in the bike industry, made me feel so much better about passing out next to a crazy adventure buddy in a van in Aspen.

Sunday

In the morning we woke up, got some breakfast in town, and cruised down valley. We didn’t really know what the day would hold, nor did we particularly care. A second epic backcountry ski trip on Sopris? A day of resort skiing to balance out our dirtbag activities of the weekend? Hours in I70 traffic? We knew we weren’t doing the latter, but the rest of the trip was open to improvisation.

After a few hours or cruising along at (Vanagon) highway speeds (55mph) we decided to pull over and catch a few laps at A-basin’s infamous East Wall. I had been excited about grabbing a tee shirt supporting the Avalanche Rescue dogs, so despite throbbing ankle bones from the BC ski boots, I strapped in for another couple weekend runs. We got the shirt, skied the wall, and still caught the end of the US Men’s soccer friendly against Serbia

Loveland Pass at night

As the sun started to set we headed back to the van for a quick organizational effort. It had been a long weekend and the van was just a dumping spot for gear. Snowshoes, skins, jackets, beacons, sunglasses, everything was scattered so we took a minute to repack before continuing the journey. With the lodge closed and traffic diminishing we decided to head over Loveland Pass, the 6th mountain pass of the weekend for a 30 year old van. At the top Alex hopped out to get one last run – a moonlit solo sojourn down to a hairpin in the road where I picked him up and we rolled back to Denver.

It’s no secret that we like to travel – Matt’s bike toured between Boulder and Yellowstone, and Aspen to the Grand Canyon to Aspen, pedaled the long way from Paris to Switzerland, and led mountain bike trips around Colombia for a few months. We love seeing the world from a bike seat – getting to know a culture and community in ways that just aren’t available going 70mph.

Matt took the first round of Conation Collective samples when he was guiding in Colombia – riding 10 hours a day through sweltering humidity seemed like a good way to stress test the designs. So when he got the chance to hop a flight to Cuba, subjecting Conation to another round south of the border seemed natural.

Matt says “Merino wool and lightweight fabrics make for great travel gear when backpacking around an island, and I was stoked with how well the pieces crossed over.” Enjoy a little clip from aboard our moped in the Unesco World Heritage site Valle de Vinales!

Zac was my roommate in undergrad, along with being one of my best friends, constant training partner, and wingman. Though he was kind of a shitty wingman.

He’s been testing Conation Collective gear up in Seward AK for the past couple years, doing everything you would expect from someone who found Colorado’s backcountry too developed and civilized. Sea kayak to a couloir? Done. Guide tourists on Denali? Check. Freeride from the snow to the sea. That’s his favorite ride.

Last year Zac and I built him a new bike in 3 days in my friend’s garage in Denver before taking a road trip to Monarch Crest, Crested Butte, Gunnison, and Moab. You can read about it here. But we missed the Monarch Crest ride by literally 10 hours when it started snowing, he came back this year to finish the job.

I woke up at 5:30am and drove to Salida to meet Zac and his friend Josh in a gas station parking lot. We shuttled up to the top of Monarch Pass and began riding up the trail. Zac and Josh had skied here a couple years before, and I guess the ski route goes all the way up to the radio towers, so we rode all the way up there too before realizing we had passed the mountain bike turn off.

The trail up there is amazing – just endless views of the Rocky Mountains and no one else around – so we cruised along enjoying the scenery and trying to stay hidden from wind. Both Zac and Josh are strong riders, but when the trail started to tilt downhill Zac pulled ahead. It must have sparked something in me, because next thing I know we’re ripping down the trail, on the knife-edge of control, trading lead and chaser roles.

By the time we popped out on the dirt road I had a silly grin on my face. I hadn’t ridden like that with someone in a long time. After years of riding 4+ days a week with Zac, we knew each other’s riding style perfectly even after a couple years in different states. We could ride right on each other’s wheel the entire time, knowing exactly what line the other person was going to take even before he got there.

Lunch

The three of us decided to stop at a sunlit hut for lunch where we found old metal chairs and a table to eat on, as well as a nice wooden bench to chill.

I don’t know what trail Zac and Josh found after lunch, but it was amazing. We started by crashing through little mountain streams in an aspen grove, then onto a screaming downhill in open single track through old pine trees. Eventually we ended up hugging ravine walls that dropped down to a picturesque mountain creek, though we were riding way too fast to enjoy it. The ravine walls went from loose scree to boulder fields to ripping hardpack and back, each blind corner offering a new surprise.

Dirt Roads

Coming out of the trail and back onto dirt roads I realized my front wheel was completely out of true. Like, tire-rubbing-my-fork-arch bent. At a bridge with some shade I took off my wheel and beat it against the ground until it was manageably straight, shrugged, and we kept riding.

The road went on forever. It was at least a chill incline, but it was late, we were tired, and the ride was becoming demoralizing. When we finally found the last single track, which was downhill (at least to start), I was so excited I completely blew the first corner and Zac almost followed.

Last singletrack

For those of you that have ridden Monarch Crest, you know the mental fortitude the last section requires. The trail basically screams down to a creek and then climbs straight back up the other side, over and over again. It hurts so bad as the last section of trail, but there’s really no other choice.

Just before the last climb I blasted through a rock garden and my chain swung into the tire, bending the derailleur cage and a couple chain links to the point I couldn’t pedal. It wasn’t worth fixing with the amount of pedaling left, so I got it into a higher gear away from the wheel and just coasted or walked the last few miles back to the road.

It was an obsurd way to end such an epic ride, but sometimes that’s what has to happen. We coasted down the highway into Salida, inhaled some Chinese food, got the other car at the top of the pass, and I headed back to Denver hoping I wouldn’t fall asleep mid-drive.

We’ve been mixing up our riding as the season changes, using a couple lifts to get to the top of the mountain and getting a little more air under our tires than usual. And we made a quick video of the fun – check it out.

This weekend we’ll be at the Gociety Adventure Fest through a partnership with CO Active. They’ll have outdoor yoga, performances by a bunch of artists including The Railsplitters and Occidental, a beer garden, and gear demos, all centrally located in Denver’s downtown Sculpture Park. Come say hi, we’ll have mountain bike videos going, free stickers, and a bunch of cool American-made cycling apparel!

Ever get an itch to go ride something stupid? I like taking road bikes on dirt, and I used to do laps on Peak to Peak highway when I was racing a lot, so when I heard there was a dirt road in Rocky Mountain National Park I started getting excited about a high altitude ride.

I don’t know why I was excited about it – I hadn’t ridden my road bike in a while and I definitely hadn’t done 6,000 feet of continuous climbing. But whatever, it seemed like it’d be a good time or a good story, so I started pedaling.

Jamestown

I picked up a friend on my way out of Boulder and started pedaling towards Jamestown. Getting started on a ride like that can be one of the hardest parts but meeting a friend forced me to leave on time. The ride up to Jamestown went smoothly and I was feeling strong as the grade kicked up on Super James. I could see a group of 3 riders in front of me on the straight sections – they were so close I could even make out parts of their conversation – but I couldn’t catch them! All the way up Super James, through the hairpin left, across the steep run out section they unknowingly teased my ego.

Where Jamestown turns to dirt though I quickly caught up and recognized them as some of the former Excel guys from the Bus Stop rides in Boulder. We rode together towards Peak to Peak and I was happy for the wind break and mental distraction that riding in a group provides. I hoped they were going north, but when we reached the highway they headed towards Nederland, leaving me to fend for myself.

There were a couple blasts of wind that worried me on the way to Estes Park, but overall it was a pleasant ride and I even stopped in a little general store for a popsicle since things were going so well.

Too much food

In Estes Park I stopped for lunch and ate WAY too much. I don’t know what I was thinking – probably just that all the food in front of me looked really good – but as soon as I got in the saddle I knew I had overindulged. A few miles up the road at the entrance to RMNP I just pulled over, walked into the woods, and laid down for a while. I have no problem admitting that to the world – sometimes ya just have to take a 20 minute nap.

Fall River Road

Turns out my target – Fall River Road – is pretty steep after hours of pedalling. It was a gorgeous ride with minimal traffic in comparison to the rest of the Park on a busy Saturday, but I was falling apart. I was cramping, I couldn’t drink enough water, my focus was gone. I had even released my brakes on the off chance they were rubbing, even though we all know they weren’t.

Pavement!

I made it to the Alpine Visitor Center completely shattered. I seriously considered hitching back to Estes Park, but I hadn’t made it to the highest point in the road and I thought it’d be a waste to ride that far and fall just a few hundred (vertical) feet short. With extreme resentment I climbed back on my bike and coasted out of the visitor center parking lot.

It was like a switch had been thrown – a slight tail wind combined with the low rolling resistance of actual pavement had me feeling like I was flying. I was very careful to make sure I didn’t crack again cause I didn’t think I could come back from that, but I was pushing up to that line and loving the sound of the chain dropping down my cassette as I pushed for the top.

I was so excited when I finally crested the summit I did a little air boxing before zipping up my jacket. It felt amazing to coast downhill after a day of climbing, but nothing can be perfect and it got surprisingly cold as the sun set.

The original plan was to ride to my friend’s family ranch a couple miles outside Estes Park, but I couldn’t make it past town and requested a pickup. I’ll probably do the ride again now that it’s a known quantity, but damn that was a sufferfest.

A couple friends were headed to Granby Ranch and Winter Park last weekend for a weekend of downhilling, camping, and general shenanigans. I was down for most of that, but wasn’t feeling two full days of downhilling because my fork is oversprung, and I haven’t gotten around to ordering a lighter spring so it gets uncomfortable. …after writing that sentence I’ve realized there’s the distinct possibility I’m just a baby. But whatever, I packed two bikes – DH and XC – and headed into the mountains.

Downhilling

The riding at Granby Ranch was awesome. Super technical rock lines that reminded me of my east coast upbringing, steep lines, a couple rhythm sections, and a blind ladder drop pasted a grin on my face that lasted well into the evening.

After a quick stop at the grocery store, we found a cool camp spot on the west side of 40 and set up camp.

The climb

The next morning was the ride I was really looking forward to. My friends drove to Winter Park, dropping me and my XC bike on the access road to Rollins Pass. I started pedaling from there, following dirt roads next to a small canal, across amazing viewpoints, and around old rail lines. I remembered this being a really long climb, and it is about 10 miles of continuous uphill, but as I started to near treeline I knew I was making good time.

The top of the climb was a bit annoying with puddles and insects everywhere, but I got to the continental divide before any rain clouds and began the light descent over some ancient railroad trestles. I don’t expect those trestles are going to collapse anytime soon, but that possibility crosses my mind every time I’m 50 feet off the ground.

Over the Continental Divide

I followed the trail towards Eldora, and then into Nederland where I picked up a spare tube and espresso before heading back up to the High School Trails. I took the High School Trails to West Mag, crossed Peak to Peak Highway, and continued onto the Dots.

I had no idea why, but I felt great. No energy crash, no mental fatigue, I was just cruising along like 35 miles of dirt was no big deal. It never occurred to me that I rarely drink coffee so a mid-ride espresso was like superpower juice. At the end of the Dots I crossed Magnolia to find the stunning views on Winneger Ridge, and only on the dirt road climb back to Magnolia Road did I start to feel tired. ..probably in part because someone told me a mountain lion had been spotted nearby, and there’s nothing like a massive predatory animal to remind me of human frailty.

Back to Boulder

By the time Magnolia changed to pavement, I had ridden 43 miles of dirt, mostly singletrack, with 5000 feet of elevation. It’s exactly this type of Colorado exploring that gave rise to Conation – from the campsite to the Continental Divide to the coffee shop all in one awesome outfit.

Bike Radar has the unending task of keeping up with all the new stuff coming out in the bike industry. Road, mountain, ‘cross, hardware components, beta apps, tools, and tutorials, they cover it all. We were super excited by the chance to take a lap around Walker Ranch outside of Boulder, CO with their tech editor Russell, and even more excited when he took the time to do a long term review because that’s when Conation Collective apparel really shines. After a couple rides, he determined the bib and short combo is “crazy light and super breathable, but able to navigate the cafe, sandwich shop, or bar without looking like an oddly sponsored alien.” Read more here.

Racing used to be a big part of my life. I was going to college, riding and hanging out with a bunch of fast kids, and didn’t want to sit by myself while all of them were at events every weekend. It started by racing with the collegiate team at the University of Colorado, and eventually I went on to some local trade teams as I got quicker.